My Little Tea Cup
by romancequeen01
Summary: Sakura returned from her mission to protect Idate, and focused all her time into the hospital. Idate realizes after she's gone that he let go the one person who he truly cared about. What will he do to get her back? Will he have the chance? SakuraXIda
1. Step One: The Plan

Chapter One: Step One of the Plan for Reuniting

Idate had been moping around the town for quite some time since the race, exactly a year. Everyone was confused as to why, he had won…he should be over joyed-not depressed. Eventually the boss couldn't take it anymore, one night after dinner he excused everyone except himself and Idate,

"_What's wrong Idate?"_

Idate simply sat at the table, not knowing whether or not to speak what was really on his mind. The boss smiled down at him,

"_You're missing someone?"_

Idate looked up at the man and simply nodded. The boss continued,

"_You have been writing a lot of letters…to the leaf village. One of those ninja had really made an impact on you?"_

Idate laughed slightly before replying,

"_I guess you could say that…"_

The boss's smile widened,

"_which one is it?"_

Idate simply stared down at the table. The boss smiled,

"_Naruto?"_

Idate laughed,

"_Noooooo…."_

The boss smiled the widest smile he could muster,

"_Ahhhh…haha…Miss Sakura Haruno…"_

Idate just smiled and scratched the back of his head.

"_What has the lovely kunoichi done to spark your interest?"_

Idate smiled, recalling the time he had spent with her.

"_She showed me how to trust people…she put her life on the line to save mine. I was so mean to her...to all of them…but they all stuck by me, especially her…she even got me reconnected with my brother…she helped me see what I really wanted in life, I had always wanted to become a ninja and now that I am I want to show her what she helped me do…I want to thank her for everything…."_

The boss laughed,

"_She has made that much of an impact on you huh? You love this girl?"_

Idate was a bit taken back by his question but couldn't help but smile,

"_Yes sir, I believe I do…"_

The boss laughed while adding,

"_That explains how you two parted ways…"_

Idate's face turned a bright shade of red while the boss added,

"_I believe every man in the town envied you that day…"_

Idate laughed as he remembered,

**FLASHBACK**

"_I want to thank you for all your help Naruto."_

Idate stated. Naruto chuckled while scratching his head,

"_Yeah well…it was my pleasure…"_

While Ibiki came from the boat,

"_I'm here to collect the wounded…"_

Naruto nodded and brought Sasuke onto the boat. Sakura smiled at Idate and stated,

"_Well I guess I should be going, it was nice meeting you…Idate…"_

As she turned around slightly to start to walk away, Idate wrapped his hand around her wrist, turning her around. Just as she was face to face with him again he placed both his hands on either side of her face and kissed her. She was so shocked she didn't know what to do. She simply closed her eyes and kissed him back. A few moments later his lips departed from hers, both catching their breath, he smiled down at her while resting his forehead against hers.

"_Thank you…Sakura…for saving me."_

She smiled up at him and nodded. He smiled as Naruto came down the bridge, rushing to snatch Sakura away. He laughed inwardly as he noted that Naruto liked Sakura but he could see that she just thought he was annoying as a brother type. He doubted anything serious would form between them. He smiled as he kissed her softly again, slipping something in her hand, while adding,

"_I'll come visit you, I promise you Sakura I will protect you like you did me…I'll be a better man."_

She smiled,

"_Don't change too much, there's something about you that makes me laugh."_

She replied while laughing slightly. He laughed as Naruto pulled her away. He released her hand and exclaimed,

"_Don't worry, just remember what I said the first time I met you, remember our future…"_

He smiled as she laughed,

"_I don't think I'd give up being a ninja…"_

He nodded and added,

"_I wouldn't want you too…"_

She smiled back at him as Naruto shouted over his shoulder,

"_Good bye Idate! Come visit sometime!"_

Idate smiled,

'_I will…'_

**END FLASHBACK**

"_Well Idate…what are you going to do to win over this girl?"_

The boss questioned. Idate smiled and asked,

"_Can I ask of you a favor boss?"_


	2. Step Two:Naruto and Nurse Sakura

Chapter Two: Step Two-Naruto

The next day Idate arrived at Kohona, he waited at the water front for Naruto. He had asked the boss if he could go see her, the boss obviously let him and told him that he would arrange for Naruto to meet him and show him around. He was so excited to see Sakura. He had requested that no one tell her, he wanted to keep it a secret.

Naruto finally showed up, he ran the entire way there, stopping in front of Idate barely breathing. Before Idate got a chance to say anything Naruto yelled,

"_Ahhh I'm sorry Idate I was talking with the guys and I got side tracked..."_

Idate just shook his head,

"_That's alright…how are things?"_

Naruto smiled that smile he was known for,

"_Wanna go get some ramen and catch up?"_

Idate nodded and walked alongside him.

A few miles away at the hospital Sakura was making her rounds. There weren't a lot of major injuries but she had a lot of her usual checkups, a few of said inspections were Hayate, Kotetsu, and Neji. Sakura loved having conversations with Hayate, he was actually quite nice although he looked like he was about to drop dead at any moment, he was rather smart. She walked in and was talking to him about a book that they both had read. She couldn't help but laugh at his choice of books,

"_I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to read Hayate, what I'm saying is that you should read books that aren't that girly…"_

She said with a laugh as she scribbled something down on her clip board. A knock at the door shook her from her thoughts,

"_Hey Hayate don't keep my nurse from me…I need me my checkup..."_

Sakura turned to find Kotetsu leaning against the door. Sakura just rolled her eyes,

"_Alright Hayate I'm going to give you something for that cough, It won't cure it but it should help subside it for a while until you come in for surgery."_

Hayate just shook his head, she turned and picked out a pill bottle from the cabinet. Kotetsu leaned over, checking out the kunoichi's ass. He smirked slightly as she turned around,

"_I'm serious Hayate, If I don't see your name on the surgery list with in the week…I'll be after you…don't test me…"_

He scratched the back of his head.

"_Alright alright…"_

As he hopped off the examination table and took the pill bottle from her, walking out,

"_Thank you again Sakura…"_

She just smiled and nodded at the man. She then turned her attention to Kotetsu, grabbing her clip board she exclaimed,

"_You're really early…what's your rush? I still have one more patient before your appointment…"_

As she walked out of the room. He smiled and followed her,

"_Well Sakura I have a proposition for you…"_

She just rolled her eyes,

"_and what might that be Kotetsu?"_

He smiled down at her, he loved hearing his name come out of her mouth. He draped his arm around her shoulder and exclaimed,

"_How about dinner?"_

She shimmied out from under his arm, not looking at him she smiled and answered,

"_I'm sorry I can't, I'm meeting Naruto for dinner, he said he had something he really wants to talk about."_

A look of disappointment flashed across Kotetsu's face, but didn't stay there for long, he was about to ask her something else when she arrived at another room. She turned around and placed her hand flat on his chest, stopping him. He smiled down at the hand on his chest,

"_I have another appointment before you so you'll just have to wait Kotetsu."_

As she walked into a room and shut the door, locking it. She turned to that a smirk had come to Neji's face,

"_Well…Sakura I did not know you wanted me that badly that you could not wait until after my exam…"_

Sakura huffed,

"_Don't flatter yourself Hyuga I am trying to prevent Kotetsu from barging in on another one of my exams."_

Neji's smirk didn't falter,

"_I could get rid of him for you…"_

Sakura laughed as she prepared her paper,

"_As much as that would be funny to watch, I don't think you should injure him, I mean he is the hospital guard for my shift tomorrow."_

Without missing a beat Neji exclaimed,

"_I was not implying on beating him up Haruno, although that would be easy, it wouldn't be as fun."_

She raised a brow at him, shaking her head, she decided she didn't want to know what he meant. She placed her clipboard down on the counter. She walked over to Neji and placed her hands along his face, trailing to his forehead, then to his eyes. He sighed in contentment as she poured her chakra into his eyes.

"_Have they been bugging you lately Neji?"_

"_Hm?"_

He questioned,

"_Your eyes…have they hurt? Some of the pigments in your eyes tell me that you've been in some pain."_

He shrugged,

"_Nothing you can't heal…with your magic hands."_

Sakura giggled before removing her hands from his eyes, trailing them down his neck. He kept his eyes on her as she laughed,

"_Well although I can heal you Neji you really should try and take better care of your eyes, I'm going to give you some eye drops and I want you to use them, every night before you go to sleep or in the morning."_

He just nodded. As she lightly pushed him down onto the table so she could examine the rest of his body. To her surprise she didn't find anything else wrong, but then again, this was Neji Hyuga. She clapped her hands together,

"_Alright…"_

As she turned around and grabbed her clip board, quickly writing her notes down. He sat up and kept his eyes on her. She turned around again and grabbed a bottle from the draw and a dropper top, she placed them in a plastic bag before turning to him and handing them over. He took them.

"_Two drops each eye once a day."_

He nodded and stood up walking up to her,

"_You sure you don't want me to take care of him for you?"_

Sakura giggled,

"_No thank you, I'm sure he means well…"_

Neji nodded and walked out of the room, glaring at Kotetsu as he walked by. Sakura stood in the room scribbling the rest of her notes on her clip board as Kotetsu walked in, smile plastered on his face. Sakura looked at the clock and smiled, he was her last appointment of the day, then she would be meeting up with Naruto. She was so curious as to what he had planned for her. Little did she know Kotetsu had been standing in front of her as she was day dreaming, smile on her face. He chuckled, which brought her from her thoughts.

"If you're going to keep staring at me like that my offer still stands for dinner beautiful…"

As he placed his hand on her cheek. She just laughed up at him,

"Actually I was thinking of how happy I'll be to go home, shower, and go out with Naruto and find out what surprise he has for me tonight."

Kotetsu smirked and stated,

"Well I could save you the trip, you could shower at my place."

Sakura rolled her eyes and pushed his hand off her face.

"When are you going to stop pretending that you don't like me and just go out with me already…"

Sakura just laughed as she pushed him down slightly,

"Have you ever thought I wasn't pretending?"

Kotetsu smirked,

"Of course you're not but that's okay, I can play along."

He winked at her,

"So dinner?"

Sakura rolled her eyes,

"Not tonight Kotetsu…"

"How about breakfast?"

"I have to work…"

"Lunch?"

"I will still be at work…"

Sakura was just about to finish up his checkup when Kotetsu grabbed her hands away from his face, squeezing them lightly in his hands,

"Come on Sakura…have dinner with me tomorrow night…"

She tried to look away but he gently turned her face back to face his,

"I promise you won't regret it Sakura…please…"

His eyes were just pleading. She sighed,

"Tomorrow night, five o'clock?"

A huge smile broke across his face,

"That's right when our shifts end?"

He exclaimed. Sakura nodded while scribbling everything down on her clip board,

"So?"

He smiled and exclaimed,

"You don't wanna freshen up or anything?"

She chuckled to herself,

"Nope, see cuz if I do I might see my bed and think I'd rather go to sleep…"

As she started walking out of the room. He smirked,

"Hey I would gladly go to your apartment and do some things in your bed."

Sakura grumbled as she walked out of the room and went to the locker room. She quickly changed, she was so excited to see Naruto, she wanted to know what his surprise was. A huge smile spread on her face as she walked through town towards the raman stand. Little did she know she was about to get the surprise of her life. What she also didn't know was that Kotetsu sent his lackey friend Izumo to spy on what Naruto's big surprise was. He wanted to know what it was so he could top it the next night. This was his first actual date with Sakura and he was going to make sure that it wasn't the last.


	3. Stood Up? No Reunited

Chapter Three: Naruto's Surprise

As Sakura walked through the village she decided that she didn't really _need_ a shower, it was only Naruto, he'd seen her look worse. She laughed to herself at just how true that really was. She walked into the raman stand which the owner just smiled at her, knowing that she would be meeting his best customer there. Naruto went there every single day, which just made Sakura shake her head, that was really unhealthy.

He pointed her over to a booth which was mainly Naruto's booth but he hadn't shown up yet. This wasn't like Naruto to be late. Sakura sat at the table and waited, and waited, and waited. It had been about twenty minutes since she arrive. She kept looking at the clock, trying to imagine what crazy stories Naruto would come up with to explain why he was late. She was getting annoyed. She sighed and rested her chin on her hand. Her eye lids fluttered closed slightly when a clearing of the throat awoke her.

She looked up to find Izumo standing beside her booth with two bowls of ramen. He smiled down at her,

"I figured you might be hungry…"

She just laughed up at him slightly while smiling.

"Is this seat taken?"

He questioned motioning for the other seat, she shook her head,

"I guess not…"

He smiled and sat down handing her a bowl of ramen. She smiled at him, taking a bite of her food she looked up at him,

"How did you know what my favorite dish was?"

She questioned holding a small dumpling with her chopsticks. He simply laughed at her,

"You've been here enough and every time I've seen you eat that is the same dish you get."

She just smiled up at him,

"Well…I guess thanks for paying attention…"

He laughed at her while continuing to eat his meal. A few minutes later he had finished his meal and just looked at her, she looked up and found that he was staring at her. She smiled and asked,

"Alright, did Kotetsu send you? To keep an eye on me?"

Izumo shook his head no only to have Sakura shoot him a death glare, with that he nodded,

"Well in his defense he wanted to know if you were lying to him, just to get out of going on a date with him."

She just shook her head,

"Why does it matter, I told him tomorrow night at five…"

Izumo coughed slightly after taking a sip of his drink. He looked at her as she finished her ramen.

"No way…"

She looked up at him confused,

"You finally are agreeing to go out with him?"

Sakura shook her head with a smile,

"Not go out with him, go get dinner…there is a huge difference my dear Izumo."

He couldn't help but laugh,

"He really likes you Sakura."

She just shook her head as she sat back,

"Ugh please don't start Izumo…I'm really not in the mood…"

Izumo leaned forward slouching over the table,

"I know you don't want to hear it but he really does, I've never seen him like this before, he talks about you all the time. Come on I mean the man has never continuously asked out a girl for a year…doesn't that prove something to you?"

With that she laughed and added,

"Well that kinda just proves that he's either stupid or doesn't like being rejected."

He shook his head when a smile spread across his face,

"Or you're just really stubborn."

She smiled as she moved to stand up, just in time to see Naruto walk through the drapes. She shot him a glare. She turned back to Izumo and handed him the money for the ramen he had bought her. He took it and went to hand it back to her,

"It's on me, for making my friends day."

He said with a chuckle. She just shook her head and pushed his hand back at him.

"Thanks for keeping my company…"

He nodded at her, he could tell that she was hurt. Naruto was by far her best friend and he had stood her up, he knew that she gave up time at the hospital to come eat with him. He knew that this was time that she could have spent saving lives. She was just about to turn and leave when she heard the voice of someone she didn't want to hear,

"Sakura…"

Before she could think about anything she turned around and punched him dead in the face, sending him flying through the curtains. He was able to bounce back from her blows quicker than anyone else, but she also held back a considerable amount when it came to him. Naruto walked back in and slowly up to her while holding his hands up in defeat,

"I know I'm late…"

"Your two hours late Naruto…and I'm going home…"

As she started to walk past him Naruto grabbed her arm lightly while adding,

"Please Sakura hear me out…I know you'll be happy when I tell you why I am so late."

She was about to throw him through the wall but she respected the owners more than that. Izumo placed his hand on her shoulder and exclaimed,

"I'll see you later Sakura…"

As he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Once he left she turned her attention back to Naruto as he sat her back down. Little did she know that Izumo didn't travel far, just far enough so that he was unseen by them but he could still hear and see what was going on. She growled at Naruto while the glare never faltered from her face. He was blabbing like a child, she just couldn't care less with what he was talking about. She buried her face in her hands. She felt that someone had approached the table, but she didn't want to lift her head up to see who it was.

"Heyy where'd you come from sweetie?"

As he leaned over the table so he was close to her. Sakura just huffed into her hands as Naruto stood up all angry and started yelling. Sakura couldn't care less with whom or what this person was talking about she wanted to go home.

"Sakura that's a beautiful name…"

She'd heard this before, her eyes widened,

"Since fate has brought us together, it's about time that we talk about our future…"

With that Sakura shot up and stared at the man. Her face turning pink he smirked and continued,

"Oh you know the part where you give up this ridiculous ninja business and run away with me…"

As he winked at her. A huge smile spread across her face as she screeched. She jumped up and threw herself at the man. Throwing her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He just laughed as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Naruto smiled at the two, he and Idate had reenacted the what had happened the time when they had met. Idate smiled and exclaimed,

"Sorry I made Naruto late, he was just really slow when it came to my plan."

She pushed him away lightly while going to ask him what he meant when he replied,

"I wanted to surprise you like when we first met do you remember?"

She laughed and answered,

"Well yeah, I do now you replayed the entire thing!"

She said with a laugh. She was so excited that he was here. He took her hand in his and lead her out of the ramen shop, walking with her he started to explain why he was there (well sort of…just not telling her that he loved her) he told her how much he had missed her and that he owed her his life. She just smiled at him, knowing that it was only partly true.

"Well you got your wish…kind of…"

Naruto added from behind the two. They turned to face him, curious of what he was talking about.

"Well Sakura did give up her "ridiculous ninja business" and focused her attention into the hospital."

Idate was shocked he turned to Sakura,

"Is that true?"

Sakura shook her head,

"I didn't give it up I just focused more of my time into helping people instead of killing them."

Idate smiled down at the girl which he traveled so far to see. She had changed a lot, but she was still the same girl he met before, so willing to help people, willing to give up her life to save theirs. She was perfect, and he was going to make her his. Izumo watched the entire seen before him. He shook his head and figured he mine as well go tell Kotetsu.


End file.
